Should the MCU X-men lean heavily into the minority metophor?

[ChronoRogue]

I didn't think of it like that so I agree on that front. But then I feel like this leads to another problem. Making a general statement about discrimination may come out as vague. If you put different forms of racism into the same pot and treat them the same what you get may not resemble what you expect. I think it is more meaningfull to tackle the issues american muslims face in Ms Marvel than doing it through a mutant as what american muslims face everyday will be different than what americans with chinese ancestry face. If X-men represents all minorities then the message it tries to give may come out too simplistic or if it targets a specific minority group than it may come out tone deaf and cringe. And again I'm not saying X-men should abandon the metaphor. I'm just saying I prefer a movie featuring a specific minority give a strong message about the discrimination they face than a movie featuring characters that stand for all minorities do the same as the latter may not deliver its message properly.

Why is making a general statement too vague a problem? I think the point of the X-Men and "otherness" is to make people relate despite race, sexuality, religion, disability, etc.. or whatever minority you identify with and relate to the X-Men for that reason. To reach across gaps and form common ground. I think the reason why many people related to the X-Men and liked them is because it could apply to lots of different minorities groups, some which we don't really always recognize or talk about as much.

Heck I'm part of two (race, sexuality) and I've never felt like the message was lacking. The only thing I felt was lacking was the franchise taking it's own metaphorical advice and portraying minorities in important positions in terms of story, which is still an issue at times but has gotten better, a bit slowly.

Anyway just because someone addresses real life racism in another book, doesn't mean the points about tribalism or "otherness" goes away in different books or makes it redundant. There are nuances and history to each minority that makes their experience different, while an umbrella category like the X-Men serve as a unifying metaphor for themes that probably might be too radical or ignored in separate mediums.

Since this is Disney, they are going to play this as safe as possible, using a metaphor lets them address things indirectly without making the comparisons too heavy-handed. The execution will matter regardless of where it's coming from, whether a film like Ms Marvel or the X-Men. Ms Marvel doesn't represent all minorities and none of those movies should get the benchmark as having exclusive coverage of the ideas of discrimination, it's affects lots of people and in lots of different ways, so I don't see a problem.

[anyajenkins]

It should definitely be present, but not leaned on too heavily (because the metaphor breaks down if it’s looked at too closely.)

[Devaishwarya]

If it's done very well. Don't give me Claremontian half-assery. By that same token, I don't need to be preached to...I don't like being preached to. So...
Yes...lean into it, smartly and interestingly, but not with a pile driver.

[Confuzzled]

To OP question, YES! Thinking Falcon becoming Captain America will make bigotry go away in the MCU is like thinking Obama becoming President ended racism in America.

The mutants are an ENTIRE minority race, who are expected to be the future. That is going to freak out the MCU in a way Kamala Khan or Shang-Chi aren't going to.

[Confuzzled]

Since this is Disney, they are going to play this as safe as possible, using a metaphor lets them address things indirectly without making the comparisons too heavy-handed.

With Black Panther and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, they have shown they are ready to tackle sensitive subjects seriously (though interestingly, both of these projects were written by black creators).

[ChronoRogue]

With Black Panther and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, they have shown they are ready to tackle sensitive subjects seriously (though interestingly, both of these projects were written by black creators).

I don't know, they still struggle with certain issues and representation. How many LGBT characters have we seen on screen? As just one example. though the x-men films haven't done much better there, ugh fox

I know we're getting YA what with Billy and Tommy already showing up in WandaVision but they still feel like a way off.

[Confuzzled]

I don't know, they still struggle with certain issues and representation. How many LGBT characters have we seen on screen? As just one example. though the x-men films haven't done much better there, ugh fox

I know we're getting YA what with Billy and Tommy already showing up in WandaVision but they still feel like a way off.

Eternals will have the MCU's first openly gay superhero and America Chavez will be turning up in the Multiverse of Madness early next year. Once Black Panther exploded both commercially and critically/awards-reception wise, they have become a lot more comfortable pushing representation and stronger socio-political themes.

[ChronoRogue]

Eternals will have the MCU's first openly gay superhero and America Chavez will be turning up in the Multiverse of Madness early next year. Once Black Panther exploded both commercially and critically/awards-reception wise, they have become a lot more comfortable pushing representation and stronger socio-political themes.

I forgot about the Eternals character, I guess we'll see how much screen time he gets.

[Doom'nGloom]

With Black Panther and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, they have shown they are ready to tackle sensitive subjects seriously (though interestingly, both of these projects were written by black creators).

Both of those projects tackled the struggles of African Americans through Falcon, Isaiah and Killmonger and while we can argue how accurately they represented those themes what they showed has a clear equivalent in real life. I'd love a story about Storm struggling with how she was brought up in Africa and her new identity as a heroine to the whole world but I doubt we'll get that as with the X-men it almost always comes down to their mutations. When it comes to x-characters their mutations take precedence to their racial identity and I understand in universe their x-gene is their racial identity but I have a hard time relating to that which is why I'm a little skeptical. I agree that discrimation should be a part of X-men's pathos. I'm just wondering if it should be the driving force behind most of their movies going forward as there are properties better suited for that in my opinion.

[Tank]

As long as the characters are well developed, action scenes are good, and a well thought out plot/story arc I dont need it to be the about the miniorty metaphor. Im here for entertainment not social commentary.

Besides how much sense would it be that mcu world is ok with powered avengers running arond and they are like celebrities, but other people they have a problem with. It just rings hollow and forced.

Let the xmen movies be fun for once not super serious and drab like the fox movies.

[Tank]

If they don’t, what makes the X-Men unique? What’s the point of going in a Mutant Avengers (ordinary superhero team) or Mutant Guardians (space explorers) route? They could just introduce the characters and not do X-Men at all if that’s the way to go.

Different characters, stories, relationships.

[useridgoeshere]

Different characters, stories, relationships.

The characters, stories and relationships are formed by the premise of feared and hated. If that’s gone, might as well introduce them as Avengers and continue the bigger franchise with less baggage. Make Xavier’s the Avengers Academy.

[rcaguy]

To OP question, YES! Thinking Falcon becoming Captain America will make bigotry go away in the MCU is like thinking Obama becoming President ended racism in America.

The mutants are an ENTIRE minority race, who are expected to be the future. That is going to freak out the MCU in a way Kamala Khan or Shang-Chi aren't going to.

What worse is that any MCU X-MEN Moive is going to be half-assed and most likely white-washed just like the New Mutants Movie was.

[CosmiComic]

To answer the OP's question, I'd say no. If they're going to deal with bigotry, deal with actual bigotry, not just metaphors. I don't need stand-ins for oppressed groups when I could see heroes from actual marginalized groups tell their own stories about hatred and oppression.

[Castle]

It is not necessary and wont happen.

MCU is not serious minded or mature enough with their story to tackle issues of discrimination as X-Men have, something I proved very well on another thread backed up with facts from numerous videos from xmen past movies and cartoons

This theme is very deep, adult thinking, very heavy and sometimes dark and all these factors are not how MCU makes their movies...so there is no point, even if MCU were to race bend all the characters, Disney would still not be able to write a script like X-MEN 1 were discrimination is the main story arc with compelling grey grounds and less action driven fun light hearted narrative.

The good of the fox films X-MEN 1and First Class in particular have dealt with the issues that they run circles around any MCU movie that has tried to deal with it and even X2 and DOFP are not far off.

So I think MCU should not bother and move on to other stories. if they tackle this issue, this is one comparison battle with the best of the Fox movies and cartoons they are bound not to win.